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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26756980">static.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/wadingpool/pseuds/wadingpool'>wadingpool</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>HQ Flash Horror [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ambiguous/Open Ending, Anxiety, Body Horror, Creepy, Flash Horror, Gen, Horror, Monsters, Possible Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 13:00:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>881</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26756980</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/wadingpool/pseuds/wadingpool</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The bins always smelled rotten.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>HQ Flash Horror [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949203</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>static.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hey! so as a writing practice i decided to write some flash horror for haikyuu since its already october! its not gonna be a daily thing but i hope to write what i can because im a big horror fan!</p><p>this was beta'd by<a href="https://twitter.com/aastrae">astra</a>!</p><p>my twitter is at the end where im also posting this!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>He walked alone towards the bus stop. It wasn’t something too different from what he was used to, not really. He always had the tendency to stay over, always dedicating himself to practice, so the empty street illuminated by the yellow of the streetlights. It was… quiet. Quiet in a way that he wasn’t used to. There would always be some scurrying of a small animal in the underbrush, something making noise, but it was as if even the wind had stopped howling. He looked at the trees, and it was then he realized that there was no wind. The leaves hung limp as if they were suspended in time, with nothing jostling them. Tooru swallowed and walked faster away from the area. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He ignored the four missing person posters as he clutched his bag tight in his hand, refusing to look at faces that may be familiar.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One step forward. Left, right, left, right, left, right. His heart pounding at his rib cage kept him moving, and his footsteps were the only sound in the street. He carried on and turned the corner, relief flooding his system as he could see the well-lit bus stop two blocks away. The glow of the bus stop called to him, something to keep him safe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>From what, Tooru hadn’t the slightest clue. His pulse was racing as he reached an intersection. There were no cars. His blood turned to ice. </span>
  <em>
    <span>It was only a quarter before ten… why are there no cars? </span>
  </em>
  <span>He felt like prey, out in the open, and he felt his fingers trembling, caused by something other than the serve practices he had partaken in. He reached for his phone, eyes flickering around, and pulled it out. He looked down, met with the LED display lighting up. There was still enough battery to call someone. His fingers immediately punched in Iwaizumi’s number and he waited, breath abated as the rings filled the silence. He felt cold, as if someone had injected ice into his veins.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The phone picked up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>All he heard was the screech of static emerge from the receiver. He flinched away from his phone, yanking it away from his ear. It was as if it were on speaker, so deafeningly loud in the dead silence of the night, only to fall silent a few seconds afterward.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Iwa-chan?” Tooru asked, licking his lips as his eyes darted around. There was a creaking noise from the other end, a popping that made him feel sick. He hung up and took a breath. His eyes locked on the bus stop, a glinting beacon. He took a breath and stepped forward, only for the next streetlight in front of him to flicker thrice, and then a step back, eyes widening as he caught the glimpse of… </span>
  <em>
    <span>something</span>
  </em>
  <span> standing under the lamp, less than 100 meters away, enormous, and dark before the streetlight stabilized. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oikawa couldn’t even let out a scream, his heart stalled, and he took off, running towards the park that led to the bus stop. It was a short cut, one that he took with Iwaizumi whenever they were late. His heart thundered in quick sixteenth notes to the quarter notes his footsteps set and it felt as if it were trying to beat out of his chest. He hears the creaking noises, the same ones from the other side of the phone all around him and he knows, he knows whatever he saw was there with him, has been since he left the gates of Aoba Johsai and Tooru knows if he looks behind him, he’ll never make it to the bus station. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The park is dark and as he rounds the corner of the fountain, he spots the light blue and green of the bus stop. He almost laughs, despite the tears streaming down his face. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m almost there. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He sees from the peripherals the last bus of the night, the one he has to take, three blocks away. He lets out a laugh only for it to be cut off when the sight of the bus stop is obscured by a gangly body emerging from the shadows of the trees. It blocks his path and Tooru stops, breath stalling. In the back of his mind, he remembered something Mattsun had mentioned to him, only a few days ago.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>We used to walk our dogs in the park at night and they always had the tendency of growling at the bushes in the corner. You know, where the fountain is right next to the bins?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Tooru stared as the segmented body of the creature clicked as its body creaked, joints popping and sending a sick feeling surging through his body.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The bins always smelled rotten. Everyone always assumed it was just a bunch of rats or something. We stopped going there ever since the missing posters started covering the area.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>The creature swerved toward him. Tooru felt his body slump as the whisps at its head swirled like a dark mass in his direction. It surged forward, running fast, faster than Tooru would ever be able to run, clicking noises getting louder. He shut his eyes, feeling tears stream down his face as his last thought echoed in his brain.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>At least the bins don’t smell anymore.</span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <a href="https://twitter.com/starocexn">Twitter</a>
  <br/>
  <a href="https://twitter.com/starocexn/status/1311772181165203458?s=20">Thread on twitter!</a>
</p></blockquote></div></div>
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